KCRA.com

SACRAMENTO,
Calif. -- A
plastic surgeon charged with sexually exploiting his patients and
stockpiling military weapons in his Carmichael home made his first
court appearance on Thursday.

Dr. Scott Takasugi did not
enter a plea to the charges against him.

Meanwhile,
the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department confirmed that more alleged
sexual assault victims are coming forward. KCRA 3 has learned the
number could be as high as seven.

Also Thursday, an attorney
openly questioned why Kaiser Hospital, where Takasugi worked, did not
act sooner to deal with the allegations against him.

Sacramento
attorney Noel Ferris said she wants to know what Kaiser Permanente
administrators knew about Takasugi's alleged behavior and when they
knew it.

"This was so widespread, it's
hard to believe that
someone working there wouldn't have had some reason to believe
something odd was going on and would have and should have mentioned it
to somebody," Ferris said.

Ferris also said Takasugi had
photographs of at least one of his female patients.

"He took photographs of her
completely unrelated to the surgery and completely, totally
inappropriate," Ferris said.

In
a civil lawsuit filed Thursday, an attorney for one of Takasugi's
alleged victims reports suspicious conduct by the doctor dating back to
2001.

Kaiser would not comment on
that allegation, instead referring to a prepared statement apologizing
for Takasugi's behavior.

Ferris
said when the truth comes out, it will be clear that Kaiser knew and
could have done something about Takasugi before he victimized more
patients.

"If you believe the claim
that he did the same thing in
2001 that he did in May of this year, these victims never should have
been in this situation," she said.

A Kaiser representative
reiterated that Kaiser is moving to terminate Takasugi's employment.

The state Medical Board said
that within days, it could ask a judge to suspend Takasugi's license to
practice medicine.